


The Third Bullet

by lightinthedarkness



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Original Character - Freeform, Teacher AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-05-25 18:23:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6205777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightinthedarkness/pseuds/lightinthedarkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A single father plagued by a past riddled with crime and abuse and a daughter with a heart of gold and wit beyond her years. Through the trials and takes of life, they find themselves in northern Maine. Heart snatched by a troubled man painted with ink, Vax'ildan falls hard and fast for his daughter's teacher.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Day

Dim sunlight filtered through the one window in the living room, a tiny figure trying to avoid them, their footsteps feather light as they observed their target, the man in the middle of the room. 

He was mostly hidden under the duvet, with bits and pieces of long black hair peeking out onto his pillow. What little of his face the figure could see, it was calm and peaceful, deep in sleep. The figure striked.

“Up’emattem Mister!” a tiny, feminine voice shouted rushing to the man’s bed, jumping onto the small free space next to him. The man lightly groaned at the noise before yelping at the sudden jolt.

“Ah! I’m up I’m up! Where’s the fire?” The man sat straight up, random bits of his hair falling into his face.

“No fire, school!” the young girl was practically bouncing in her spot before she moved closer to the man, smooshing his cheeks in her tiny hands, “You remember right? The doctor said I could go today!” 

The man chuckled, muffled by the tiny hands he was removing, “Yes yes I remember sweetheart, you couldn’t talk about anything else that whole day.” Starting to wake up, the man was able to get a once-over of the girl, “You’ve already dressed yourself?”

“Yeah! I’ve been ready foreverrrrrr!”

“Somehow I doubt that,” He ran a much larger hand through her hair, “Your hair’s a mess Vivi.”

She pouted, “You know I can’t braid it like you Daddy! I was waiting for you to get up!”

He gave the girl a small smile as he kept combing through her hair with his fingers, using his free hand to rub the sleep from his eyes, “What time is it?” he asked before letting out a suppressed yawn.

“5:30! Oh, and good morning Daddy!” Vivi added seemingly as an afterthought, quickly pecking the man’s cheek as he sighed.

“Couldn’t fall asleep? And good morning sweetheart.” he added, pecking the top of her head.

“How could I sleep?”

“Pretty easily if you ask me, you lay down and you close your eyes.”

“But you’re old, of course you sleep easily!”

“I’m not even thirty thank you very much!” The man could feel himself getting more and more awake, a talent the tiny one in front of him seemed to have.

“You’re double digits Daddy, that’s old to me.” she barely poked her tongue out.

He peeked his own tongue out, “You’re about to be double digits young lady.”

“That’s still two years from now, Two Years!” She raised her arms in emphasis.

“Oh, it’ll pass by quicker than you think sweetheart, and before you know it  _ you’ll be an old man like meeeee. _ ” Vax leaned over, encasing Vivi’s tiny form with his much larger one. He muffled her screams and laughter. 

“You’re such a weirdo!” the muffled shout made him bubble with laughter, rocking the two back and forth, “We need to get up!!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll try and get these old bones of mine to work,” Vax let go of her to stretch out his back, various places popping here and there, “Think you can wait a few minutes while I get ready? Then I’ll do your hair.” With a nod, Vivi leaned back, sitting on the bed with her legs crossed. Another yawn before Vax was finally up, a small shiver running down him as his feet hit the cool floor. Minutes passed by as Vax managed to clean himself up and get dressed in his work clothes, “You ready Vivi?” he asked pulling his hair up and no sooner had the question left his lips there she was right in front of her, “I’ll take that as a yes then. Hold still,” he requested before placing another hair tie in his mouth and grabbing the comb. It only took Vax a few minutes to comb out the knots in Vivi’s hair and properly braid it, “And done.” 

With a little squeal, Vivi gave him a quick hug and a “Thank you Daddy!” before rushing out of the bathroom.

~~~

“Percyyyyy, Percy, PERCY!” A voice rang out, grating at Percy’s ears and half-awake mind. With a groan he opened his eyes, copper locks blocking his vision.

“Good morning to you too Keyleth.” he responded, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He sat up on the makeshift bed (honestly it was just three undone sleeping bags and a rather large pile of pillows) and felt around the nearby coffee table for his glasses.

“Good morning~” Keyleth greeted, “Sleep well?” 

Percy was able to find his glasses at last and gave a once over at Keyleth, finding that she was already dressed minus her shoes, “Yeah, bit hard not too with your persistence and this last minute sleep-over.” He ran a hand through his hair, a yawn breaking free.

Keyleth giggled, “It worked though, how you feeling about today?” 

“Like I want to curl up into a corner and cry or possibly puke, maybe both….”

“But,” Keyleth held out her hand, pointing a finger at him, “Are you tired?”

Percy thought about it for a moment, lifting his head so that he was looking at the ceiling, “Not…..terribly so?” 

“Then it worked!” 

He lowered his head to glare at her for a moment, only to sigh instead, “I guess it did, thank you Keyleth.”

“What are friends for?” She got to her feet. Percy held out a hand for her to grab, lifting him up.

“Alright, give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready myself.” he went up the stairs, still rubbing the small crook in his neck when he reached the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, getting the small compact of concealer and dabbing his fingers with it. Staring back into the mirror, Percy looked over the ink covering his body before he started to rub the concealer onto his arms, names and symbols disappearing, blending in with his own skin as he continued to rub the cooling cream. It was a few moments before  Percy looked into the mirror again, seeing his upper body now bare, like a fresh canvas ready for use, at least for the most part. His body tensed at the wisps of smoke slowly encasing his free arm, his breathing becoming more shaky.

“You finished?” he heard a yell from downstairs, Keyleth’s voice seeming to make the smoke quiver a little. 

“Almost!” With a deep breath, Percy closed his eyes, opening them to show the smoke gone, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. He finished up his business in the bathroom and dressed in the clothes he (Keyleth) had set out the night before; a simple button up, slacks, and a grey waistcoat (that he had picked out himself, and spent nearly an hour of last night arguing with Keyleth over it.) 

“I’m on my way!” Percy finally responded walking down the stairs, the foot of which Keyleth was waiting for him on, bags in hand.

“I figured small breakfast, filling lunch?” she offered him a muffin as he took his briefcase from her, along with a brown paper bag she handed him and tucked it under his arm to grab the muffin.

“Sounds lovely. You have everything?” he asked biting into the muffin, the blueberry flavor attacking his taste buds, “You make these?” came the muffled question. 

Keyleth nodded, opening the front door “I’m amazed that I could even make them, I was afraid your stove wouldn’t work from disuse.” 

“Are you seriously making a jab at someone offering you a ride?” 

The car beeped with the press of a button. Percy opened the backdoor, carefully putting his briefcase and lunch bag into the seat. He kept the door open, allowing Keyleth to do the same with her satchel and bag, and closed it.

“You know what I mean Percy.” She responded as she tried to grab at the handle, only for it to not move. Keyleth looked over to Percy, a smug expression on his face, “Really?”

“I’ll happily unlock it once I hear you say it.”

“I’m so sorry you’re incapable of cooking for yourself.”

“I’d argue that but we’re are running a tad bit late.” Another beep and they opened their respective doors and got in.

“Reheating takeout is not considered cooking, sorry to break it to you.” Keyleth giggled as they snapped their seatbelts into place. Once Percy turned the ignition, the car roared to life, as did the speakers with a tune Keyleth was all too familiar with, “Oh my God Percy, I’m not listening to-”

“You did not let me listen to anything last night! My car, my rules!” Percy interrupted her, slowly backing out of the driveway, “Besides, I thought you liked  _ Hamilton? _ ”

“No I don’t….”

“I love you to pieces but that is bullshit,” Percy chuckled as he slowly made his way out to the main road, “I have seen you try and rap  _ Guns and Ships _ , you need practice…”

“Fuck you Percy.”

“Get it all out now, because until three o’clock, ‘What the fuck is fuck?’” 

The snort that came out of Keyleth, to Percy at least, perfectly accompanied the music blasting from the speakers. He stayed silent, letting her calm down and the music flow through them as he drove. 

It wasn’t a long drive, as the school was only a few miles away from Percy’s house. He pulled into the parking lot at a spot reserved for staff. Even after Percy took his keys out of the ignition, the two stayed in their seats for a moment, enjoying the comfortable silence between them.

“You ready?” Keyleth asked, placing a hand over Percy’s, which was still on the steering wheel.

He gave her a small smile before moving his own hand, holding hers with it, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

~~~

On the other side of the same building, another car was pulling into another parking lot. Vax took the keys out of the the ignition before looking at his passenger. One thing that concerned Vax was how oddly….still Vivian looked. Just a moment ago she was bouncing in her seat, talking his ear off about today. But now, she was uncharacteristically quiet and still, only staring out at a group of children walking through the door.

“Sweetheart, everything alright?” Vax asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

It seemed to snap her out of whatever trance she was in, as she turned to look at him, “Um, yeah…” she mumbled, playing with the strap of her backpack.

“I’m finding that hard to believe,” The smile he gave her tried to be encouraging, but still held a tinge of sadness, “You nervous?” she nodded weakly in response.

“What if no one likes me…” she continued to mumble and Vax had to strain to hear her.

“Not like you? Vivi they’ll love you!” 

“But what if they don’t?” The look of worry over her face nearly broke Vax’s heart.

“Then they’re not worth your time.” He took his finger, gently booping her nose. 

“Okay…” she giggled.

“You got your inhaler?”

“Ye!” She pointed at a pouch on her backpack.

“Your shot?”

“Ye!” She pointed to another pouch.

“And when are you suppose to use it?” Vax raised an eyebrow at her thinking expression.

“When my face feels funny and I can’t breathe.”

“That’s my girl!” he praised her as he pulled her into a quick hug, “Have a good day sweetheart.” He pecked the top of her head, earning another giggle.

“I will!” she shouted as she got out and rushed to the front door, giving him a small wave before walking in. 

He waved back, smile faltering only when she was out of sight. Vax sighed as he relaxed into his seat for a moment.

“Don’t worry Vax. Don’t worry…” he chanted to himself as he turned the car back on, the roar of the engine drowning out his heavy breathing.

~~~

“Keyleth…..there’s so many of them.” Percy gripped onto her shoulder, watching the children file in from the end of the hallway.

“I know, exciting isn’t it?”   


“I was thinking more nerve-wracking…..but exciting works too…” a smile twitched from his mouth as he loosened his grip, “Best of luck to you.”

She turned to him, giving him a quick hug, “You too Percy, they’re gonna love you!” she turned away, heading to a room farther down the hall, with Percy following, stopping at a door before hers.  

Right before he grabbed at the handle, another wisp of smoke fell from his fingertips, gripping the handle for him. He took a long deep breath before grabbing the handle himself.

“Not today…” he whispered to himself as he entered the room.

~~~

Vivian stopped at the front door, staring through the clear glass. Inside there were children of various ages gathered in the cafeteria, most of them chatting animatedly with one another as they were being filtered by the staff to somewhere Vivi could not see. She felt herself freeze up again, trying to remember the words her father told her only moments ago. It seemed to help as she felt her body ease up.

“Don’t worry Vivi. Don’t worry….” she chanted to herself, finally opening the door into the building. Almost as soon as she walked into the door, there was a woman with a clipboard behind a makeshift table.

“Hello!” the woman chirped. 

Vivi yelped in surprise, “Uh, hello!” she chirped back. Despite the initial shock, the woman was very helpful in pointing Vivi to the room she needed to go to. 

She quietly walked down the hallway, still playing with the straps of her bag as she finally made it to the door the woman directed her to. With another deep breath, Vivi opened the door, only to be greeted with more excited chatter. In front there sat a man behind the desk, looking over some papers, though he immediately looked up at the sound of Vivi’s entrance, the small smile on his face turning into a rather large grin.

“Welcome!” he exclaimed raising from his desk and meeting Vivi at the door. He gave a quick once over to the classroom, “I believe you’re the last one, okay class time to settle down!” he went from Vivi to the rest of the class in only a moment, then back to Vivi, “There’s an empty right over here you can sit down after you put your things away.” he lead her to an empty chair in the front row. With a small nod, Vivi carefully placed her bag into the small lockers in the back of the room before taking her seat.

When Vivian was settled down, the man stood at the front of the room, took a piece of chalk, and started writing on the blackboard behind him. In only seconds the once blank board now had a name written in flowly script;

_ Mr. de Rolo _

“Good Morning everyone!” The man clapped his hands together and the excitement was radiating from his face, “As you can gather from the board, I’m Mr. de Rolo and I must say it is a pleasure to meet all of you!”   

Mr. de Rolo’s energy seemed to be contagious as the class started giggling. Vivi herself even felt the nerve from just a moment ago vanishing.

“Alright, let's get started with attendance then shall we? And if you go by a nickname, please let me know,” He grabbed a clipboard on his desk and started calling off names, an occasional ‘Here’ joining in, “Vivian Syngorn?” he called out after a few moments.

Vivi raised her hand from the front row, “Here!” she shouted back. He nodded to her and marked her down.

~~~

“Isn’t today Vivi’s first day?” Sherri asked, filing another record into the box, nimble lithe fingers sifting through the different vinyl. The store was going through its usual afternoon slump, as there was no one other than Vax and Sherri for the moment. 

Vax looked from the counter, an eyebrow raised on his bored looking face, “Yeah, yeah it is…”

“Huh, must be tough,” She commented as she shifted through the remaining records in the box next to her, “What with Vivi being at home all the time, now you’ll barely get to see her.”

“You are  _ so  _ comforting Sherri, you’d make an excellent mother.” 

“Hah, you’re assuming I want them, adorable.”

“What’s adorable is I’m assuming you could get laid.”

“You’re assuming I  _ want  _ to get laid…..and you kiss your daughter with that mouth?” 

The comments were sharp, but the smirk on their faces took the edge off. This was a daily thing for the two of them, a song they’ve sang so many times before. 

“Yes yes I do.” Vax stuck his tongue out as Sherri rolled her eyes.

“Seriously though, isn't there this…..thing parents go through during this time?? Something to do with birds I don’t fucking know?” she asked exasperated, her head down as she waved her free hand around.

“Empty nest syndrome?” Vax chuckled out the answer.

Sherri snapped her fingers before pointing to Vax, “Bingo!” she exclaimed as she placed the record in her hand into another box, “Yeah, how’s that coming along?”

Vax’s chuckling stopped, a sigh taking its place, “It's…...it's different I guess? I mean I’m at work so it's not like I feel it right now…”

“Buttttt?”

Vax sighed again as he placed his head on the counter, “But man did I want to fucking cry this morning……” he quietly confessed, “Seeing her walk through that door.”

“Wow…..um…...I’m sorry about that?” Sherri mumbled, looking away at the box of records once more.

“I’m just,” Vax lifted his head, facing the front door, “I’m just more worried about her really. She’s never been around anyone her age.”

“Well, maybe she’ll make some friends? I’m not great at this comforting thing..”

“I can tell.”

“Sorry.”

“You’re listening and not calling me an asshole, you’ve met and exceeded my low expectations of you Sherri.” Vax turned to her, giving his trademark cheeky grin.

“You do know I could decapitate you with one of these, right asshole?” Sherri fanned herself with the record in her hand.

“Huh, then you’d would just have to fulfill your role as Vivi’s Godmother….” Vax trailed off, putting his head back in his hand.

“I’m not her-”

“You don’t know that~” Vax giggled at her flustered expression. Sherri sighed angrily as she went back to the box of unfiled records. 

“Vivi will be fine, if she can survive eight whole years of your dickery, there’s nothing that can touch her.” Sherri was surprised by how joyous Vax’s laugh was.

“I suppose you’re right,” he managed to chuckle out, “I just hope she doesn’t do anything like, sneaking into the library during lunch or something…”

~~~

Vivian quietly opened the door to the school’s library, lunchbox in hand and backpack over her shoulder. She tried to slink through the smaller shelves right near the door, hoping to find a quiet place. 

“Hello?” a voice rang out. Vivi yelped in surprise as she turned to the front desk. Behind the counter was a young woman with frizzy black hair to her shoulders and askewed glasses, book in hand.

“Ummm….hello?” Vivi replied, still trying to scoot herself to a nearby table.

“Isn’t it lunchtime? Children aren’t suppose to be in here during lunch, oh God oh God if Uriel catches you in here, he’ll think I’m slacking and-” the woman started to ramble on, looking away from Vivi and at the counter. Vivian took this opportunity to slowly back away. She scanned the room as best as she could before finding a small corner mostly obscured by the larger shelves. 

Ducking in and out of the smaller shelves, Vivi hid behind the larger shelf when she heard the talking stop.

“Hello? Oh thank goodness she must’ve left.” she could hear a sigh of relief from the woman and the clicking of heels, presumably the woman going somewhere else. 

Vivi let out a small sigh as she placed her backpack and lunchbox down, unzipping the former and digging around. She made an excited noise as she found what she was looking for, a hardback copy of  _ Coraline _ . Vivi opened up her lunch box, taking out one of the triangle sandwiches. Settling herself into the corner, Vivi let out a content hum as she took out the paper bookmark and bit into the sandwich.

She stayed like that for a few minutes until there’s was a noise, the creaking of a door. Sandwich hanging out of her mouth, Vivi quickly put her book into her still opened backpack, fiddling with the zipper.

“Miss Syngorn?” she froze, only moving to turn and face her doom. Instead, she was greeted with a now-familiar face. 

“Mr. de Rolo!” Though muffled by the food, the excitement was still evident in her voice. The older man chuckled and it was then Vivi noticed he was carrying a brown paper bag, “Lunch?”

“Ah, yes it is, though it’s not quite as cute as yours is,” He nodded over to her purple lunchbox, pink flowers decorating the front, “Mind if I join you?”

“I thought no one was suppose to be in here during lunch time?” She finally took out the leftover sandwich in her mouth.

“Yes well….” He looked around the room before rubbing the back of his neck, “I...I won’t tell if you don’t, how’s that?” He gave her a small half-smile, a pleading look in his eyes.

Vivi used her free hand to stroke her chin, looking as if she was debating over the offer for a few moments. Then, with a small nod, “Sure.” she bit into her sandwich again.

“Excellent!” he quietly exclaimed as he sat down next to her, “So, would it be rude of me to ask exactly why you’re here?” he looked to her as he opened his own bag, taking out an apple, “You’re not hiding from anyone are you?” he asked before taking a bite. 

Vivi shook her head, “No, I just wanted to be with my friends.” she explained, reaching into a bag of chips.

Percy raised an eyebrow, swallowing, “Your friends?” he asked. Vivi took her free arm and waved, motioning to the shelves in the room. Percy’s eyes followed her arm, face widening in realization, “Ah.” was his only response, “So I take it you like to read then?” he chuckled out the question.

“Yeah! Daddy and my Auntie Vex used to read to me all the time!” The answer was muffled by the sound of crunching chips.

“Really? That’s wonderful,” Percy bit again into his apple, holding it in his mouth as he dug around in his bag. When he found what he was looking for, a small sandwich of his own in clear-wrap, he balanced it on his knee before taking out his apple, “I think you’re going to enjoy later today then, we’re going to be starting in on  _ Charlotte’s Web _ .” Percy proudly declared, undoing the clear wrap. He stopped when he heard Vivi let out a small displeased noise, “Something wrong?” 

“I already read that…...it was really sad when she died…..” Vivi mumbled weakly into the remainder of her sandwich. 

“Really?” Percy bit his lip, thinking for a moment, “I might change it to  _ Stuart Little  _ then….”

“I’ve read that too….”

Percy looked at the young girl, his expression showing a mixture of defeat and pleasantly surprised. He kept this expression for a moment before letting out a small laugh “I have a feeling I know the answer already, but  _ Matilda _ ?” 

“I loved Matilda!” 

Percy let out a small snort at the answer, having to hold his sandwich so it didn’t fall with the shake of his body from laughter, “Now that, Miss Syngorn, is an answer I love to hear!”’ He tried to keep his voice quiet, given their location, but the excitement was gushing out with each word, raising his voice. 

Vivi giggled at him, not really sure how to respond to him for a moment, “My Auntie Zeze gave me this a little while ago,” she dug through her backpack once more, pulling out a copy of  _ Tuck Everlasting  _ after a few moments, “It's a little hard though, I don’t really get a lot of the words.” she confessed.

“Understandable,” Percy gently took the book in his hands, flipping it back and forth to look over it, “This is more for fifth or sixth graders to be perfectly honest. Wonderful read, but can be a little….bland in some places….” Percy placed the book back in Vivi’s hand, which she put in her backpack.

“It was like that with The Hobbit too, my Auntie Vex had to read it to me, she does the  _ best  _ voice for the dragon! Rawr!!” Vivi lifted her arms above her head, trying her best to copy the memory.

Percy chuckled, “I can only imagine, your father seems to have amazing sisters.”

“Auntie Zeze is Auntie Vex’s wife.” 

Percy raised his eyebrows at the answer, “Oh, my apologies then.” Suddenly there was a beeping noise coming from Percy’s pocket, “Oh Jesus, I think lunch time’s over. Miss Syngorn, if you’d do me the honor of accompanying me back to class.” 

Vivi only nodded as she packed up the rest of her things, following her teacher out of the library and into the hallway.

~~~  

Vax could feel his discomfort increase with every tap of his finger on the steering wheel. To keep himself distracted, he looked over to see the group of what he assumed to be bus drivers, seeing as they were clustered by the buses. Vax’s eyes widened as he saw two of the drivers, behemoth-like men who towered over the still good-sized woman in their group. From what Vax could see, one of them had a lovely black beard.

Vax was taken out of his trance by a knock at his passenger’s side door. He just now realized he was rubbing his chin with his hand and immediately removed it.

“Daddy?” He heard a tiny voice where the knocking was coming from. Vax unlocked his car and the door opened, Vivi smiling at him as she got in her seat.

“Hey sweetheart! How’s your day been?” He could feel his body ease up as he turned the key. It took Vax sometime to navigate through the cars that had just arrived but he had finally made it to the main road.

“It was good! Mr. de Rolo’s a funny man!”

“Mr. de Rolo?”

“My teacher!”

“Oh,” Vax raised an eyebrow at the odd name, “Does he seem like a nice man?”

“Uh huh, he likes Matilda too!”

“Does he now?” 

~~~

A knock at his door interrupted Percy’s thoughts. He turned to see Keyleth, satchel over her shoulder and…...paint on her face.

“I didn’t expect the kindergarteners to be so wild on the first day.” he pointed to his own cheek. 

Keyleth raised a hand to where he was showing her, eyes widening in surprise, “Oh no, that was me! I thought we’d start of the year with face painting!” 

“Of course you did,” Percy chuckled out as he organized his papers into his briefcase, “I was thinking for dinner, that cafe only a block away?”

“Your treat?”

“You wound me thinking otherwise Ms. Ashari.” a few quick moments and he was next to her, locking his door.

“Just making sure Mr. de Rolo.” The two giggled at the names, walking down the hallway and chatting about their day. 


	2. Pens and Needles

“Goodbye Mr. de Rolo!” The class all shouted in unison as the final bell rang.

“Have a lovely weekend everyone!” Percy shouted over the laughter and the rummaging of backpacks and books, “Remember to look over your vocabulary and spelling for next week’s test!” He reminded them as he started organizing his desk, “Oh, and Miss Syngorn!” 

“Yes?” Vivi was still at her desk, zipping up her bag on the floor.

“You’re a pick up correct,” he smiled a little at her small nod, “Do you think your father will mind waiting a few more minutes for you? You’re not in trouble I promise!” He immediately reassured her after seeing the panicked look in her face. 

Vivi, still looking nervous, gripped her backpack straps tighter as she carefully walked over to Percy’s desk, “Yes?” She asked in a tiny voice.

Percy felt his heart slightly breaking at the panic he had accidentally caused, “I just wanted to talk to you about your reading-”

“I’m sorry I keep reading in class it's not because you’re boring I swear I just can’t stare at the board all the time!” She blurted out, tears starting to form in her eyes, “I’m really sorry Mr. de Rolo….”

Percy had to suppress a chuckle, “No no no, nothing like that at all. You still need to pay attention, but that’s something I’d like to tackle another day, as you’re still seeming to get everything,” he rummaged through his briefcase, “I’ve noticed that you’ve finished  _ Tuck Everlasting _ , how was it?”

“I….I couldn’t really get it…” she weakly confessed, looking down at the floor, “The frog part was hard to read.”

“Ahhh, understandable, I was actually afraid of that,” he finally found what he was looking for, “Nonetheless, I recommend you come back to it, simply wasn’t meant to be right now, doesn’t mean you should let a good story slip between your fingers,” he lifted the book so she could see it, “But for now, how about trying this out?” He handed the book to her, a small smile on his face.

She takes the book cautiously, treating it like an ancient treasure, “ _ The Secret Garden _ ….” She whispered out the title as if it was magic.

Percy only nodded, “I think you’ll enjoy yourself, still has a few difficult parts like  _ Tuck Everlasting _ , but it's a bit more balanced out.” He waved his hand back and forth.

Vivi could only nod as she kept her grip on the book, “When do you want this back?”

“Oh anytime you’re finished, this is from my personal collection, not the school’s.” He gave her a small wink, “Now, I believe you have a father waiting for you?” He nodded to the door.

“Oh, right!” She ran out, “Thanks Mr. de Rolo!” She called out.

Percy chuckled, “You’re welcome, and no running in the halls!” He added as an afterthought before turning back to his desk.

~~~

Vax scrolled through his phone, slight irritation rising as he looked from his most recent text from Sherri.

_ “Hey, bossman wants me in LA to check the new store, can you take Friday’s shift?”  _

Of course he said yes, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be pissed off about losing a Friday night with-

“Daddy!” Vax immediately felt the irritation leave him as he looked out the car window, Vivi’s tiny form rushing to the passenger’s side. He watched her struggle with the handle for a moment before unlocking the door with a chuckle as she plopped onto the seat, storing her backpack into the back and buckling up.

“Hey sweetheart,” Vax pecked the top of her head before turning the ignition on, “What took you so long?” He refused to admit he was a little worried when he couldn’t find purple eyes in the crowd of children rushing out of the building.

“Sorry, Mr. de Rolo wanted to talk to me.” She was holding something in her hand, most of her attention focused on it.

“Talk to you? It’s only been two weeks, how much trouble could you get into?” He teased her as he backed out of the school’s parking lot.

She pouted at him, diverting her attention from her new treasure, “I’m not in trouble.” She mumbled.

“Uh huh, sure you’re not.” He rolled his eyes at her, his smile never wavering.

“He just gave me this!” She held out the item, showing Vax that it was a book.

“The Secret Garden?” He quickly scanned the title before facing the road again.

“Yeah, Mr. de Rolo said it would be easier than the book Auntie Zeze gave to me,” she looked over the book again, “Can you read it to me tonight?” She turned back to him, eyes twinkling with hope.

“Oh, um, about that….” Vax could feel the sweat forming on his forehead, “I’m so sorry sweetheart, but Daddy has to work tonight…”

“But...okay…” the disappointment in her voice nearly broke his heart, “We can’t go to the diner tonight…” she mumbled.

“No, but,” his eyes brightened when he realized they were close, “you get to stay with Auntie Vex and Alexander tonight.”

Vivi still seemed upset, but the twinkle in her eyes started to reappear, “Really?”

“Yup, and before that…” Vax skidded the car to a stop, “I figured we could spend a bit of time here.”

She looked out the window, eyes now bursting with light as she immediately opened the door. Vivi let out a delighted squeal as she tried to rush out of the car, only to be stopped (and nearly choked) by her seat belt. 

“Woah, easy there Vivi!” Vax held out his hand in front of her, gently pushing her back into the seat. 

“But Daddy it's the park!!” She squirmed to undo her seat-belt. With a chuckle, Vax removed his hand when he heard the  _ click  _ of the seatbelt, releasing Vivi as she rushed to the playground. He stared at her for a few moments, smiling, before quickly grabbing her backpack and putting the car in park. Flinging the bag over his shoulder and turning on the alarm, Vax kept his sights on his daughter as he made his way to a nearby bench and the woman sitting on it.

“Two seconds here and she’s already got Alex on the monkey bars,” the woman looked remarkably like Vax, the only difference being her softer features and her fluffier-looking hair compared to his sleek, silky locks, “Hello brother.” She took off her sunglasses, greeting Vax with a small smirk.

“Hey Vex,” he took the bag off his shoulder, “Jesus Christ this thing’s heavy, the fuck are they giving her, bricks?” He rubbed his shoulder as he sat next to his sister.

“Perks of being the mother of a kindergartner,” Vex chuckled as she leaned back on the bench, petting the Newfoundland beside her, “Cept when he came home the first day with paint all over his face.”

“Did he? I didn’t take Alex as the type.” He leaned back as well, letting out a sigh of comfort.

“It wasn’t him, it was his  _ teacher  _ of all people ‘Ms. Ashari painted our faces’ bleh.” She made a gagging motion with one hand as she put her sunglasses in the pocket of her shirt.

“What’s so bad about that?” Vax raised a dark eyebrow.

She turned to face him, glaring, “I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem professional.”

“Vex’ahlia….it's a room of five-year-olds…” he couldn’t hide the smirk on his face if he tried.

“Still,” she huffed at him, “Anyway, I was wanting to ask, mind if we go to your apartment tonight instead of my place?”

“Um, sure? You have the spare key, but why?”

“Zahra has officially made our living room the ‘War Room’,” Vex air quoted the last part.

“Christ.”

“Yep, Vanessa and Drake I think are going to be there, along with papers and files so important that the very  _ idea  _ of a five and eight year old being near them makes  _ me  _ anxious, and it's not even my job!”

“I see,” Vax could only smile slightly at the explanation, “Sounds lovely.”

“Shut up, she’s making it up to us by taking off all of Alex’s Christmas break….don’t tell Alex that’s suppose to be a surprise,” she looked at her brother, noting his work clothes, “So why are you working tonight anyway? I thought you talked with Gilmore about your whole weird diner thing with Vivi?”

“Since when did you think it was weird?”

“Well, it's mostly cute, but….you’re changing the subject!” She lightly slapped his arm.

“Alright alright! Sherri had to go check in on the LA stores, and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving Kynan in the store by himself on a Friday night. Those fuckers that go to the bar across the street creep me out.” He rubbed his arm slightly.

“He’s not a kid Vax.”

“He’s seventeen, he’s a baby to me!” 

Vex could only roll her eyes before looking back at the children, her amused expression turning to one of panic, “Who the fuck is that?” She jolted from the bench.

“What?”

“Who the fuck is that woman, Trinket!” She called to the dog and in an instant he was running over to the children, Vex right behind him. 

Vax turned to see where she was running and felt a sense of panic for a moment. There was someone near the children, but as he raised up and got a better look at her the panic subsided. The woman was wearing what he assumed to be running gear, fiery red hair in a ponytail and some device strapped to her phone. She was crouched down to Alexander’s level, talking to him with a smile on her face. He visibly relaxed and sat back down, still keeping an eye on her as Trinket nearly tackled her to the ground, grimacing.

He saw his sister help pul Trinket off of the woman, and though he couldn’t hear what they were saying, he knew all too well about the overdramatic way Vex had of apologizing for something she wasn’t really sorry for. The smile on the woman’s face shrunk into it was more of a look of panic as she said something. Vax was fairly interested in the conversation he couldn’t hear until he felt something tug at his sleeve.

“Daddy.” Vivian plopped down into a spot next to him on the bench.

“Hey, you okay?” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him, “Getting tired?”

She shook her head no before a small yawn escaped her, “No..”

“Do you know the woman your Auntie Vex is talking to?” He looked back over to the two women.

“That’s Miss Ashari, Alex’s teacher.” She leaned towards him, placing her head against his chest.

“Is she now? Did she talk to you?”

“She just said hi, then Trinket tackled her.”

At that he let out a snort that was interrupted by a beeping sound. He groaned as he pulled out his phone, looking at the screen with a sigh, “Vivi, Daddy needs to go. I’ll see you later tonight okay?” He gave her a small smile before kissing the top of her head, “Don’t wear yourself out okay?” He told her as he got up from the bench.

“Okay.” she let out another yawn before giving him a hug, “Have fun Daddy.” She waved to him as she walked back to the small group.

Vax waved to her as he walked back to his car, getting in and starting it up and driving away from the park. A few minutes later he pulled into a familiar parking lot and took out the keys, leaning back into his seat with a sigh, deep in thought before something caught his eye, a book in the passenger seat.

“Damnit.” He cursed under his breath as he grabbed it, sighing, “Vivi…” he scolded no one as he opened the car door. He tucked the book under his arm as he made his way to the shop’s front door. Standing there, looking rather nervous, was a young man with messy brown hair, wearing a uniform similar to Vax’s.

When the young man saw Vax, he nearly yelped in surprise, mumbling for a bit, “Mr. Syngorn! H.hi...hello…” he weakly greeted him.

“Hey Kynan,” Vax waved to the young man before ruffling his hair slightly, “What’re you doing out here?”

“Um, um..”

“Quit mumbling and tell me.”

“It’s locked…...and Ms. Sherri has the key….” he started playing with his hands, looking at the ground.

“Fuck me,” Vax could only sigh before handing the book to Kynan, “Hold this,” he said before digging through his pocket. He pulled out a few bobby pins, kneeling down in front of the door, “Give me a sec.”

“You can pick it?”

“Yeah, don’t let anyone know alright? I only do it when this happens.” he explained as he carefully inserted the pins into the lock. A few moments of fiddling was all it took before he heard a satisfying  _ click  _ noise. Vax smirked as he turned the knob, slightly pushing the door open, “Viola~” 

Kynan still had a look of awe on his face as he handed the book back to Vax and walked inside, “Amazing…”

He chuckled, raising an eyebrow, “Not terribly, anyway you need to take inventory of this new shipment…” he started explaining, setting the book onto the counter.

~~~

“And then she gave me this creepy smile-Percy are you even listening?” Keyleth glared at him, but his gaze was focused on the car window.

“Huh, yeah, Tiberius get out here!” he honked his horn, the sound mixing in with Keyleth’s yelping.

“Yes yes of course!” bumbled out a voice from the house Percy was currently parked in front of. Slamming the door open, was a dark-skinned man, white splotches covering various parts of his body. He ran a hand over his smooth head as he walked over to the car, getting into the backseat, “Such impatience in you Percival.”

“Impatience? We’ve been here for fifteen minutes haven’t we-?” He turned to see Keyleth still glaring at him.

“I wouldn’t have known since I was telling a story about how I almost became Newfoundland chow! A story you were ignoring!”

“Wait, what’s that? I...I don’t think a dog would want to eat you Keyleth…” Tiberius commented, placing his head between the two in front as Percy started the ignition.

“I’ll tell  _ you  _ then Tiberius,” she turned to face him, “You know how I like to go on my afternoon runs right?”

“Because you’re a masochist.” Percy’s chuckle was replaced with a yelp as she smacked him lightly on the arm.

“Not a word from you. Anywho, I was doing my thing, burning off a couple of calories before we went out tonight and I saw one of my kids,” she squealed at that, covering her mouth with her hands, “You know Alex right?” she turned to Percy and was met with silence, “I fucking swear-”

“What? You said just three seconds ago that I wasn’t to say a word,” He couldn’t hide his smirk as he made the turn, “And yes I remember you telling me about him, the sweet one right?”

“Yes, he’s an absolute angel,” she sighed in awe, “He was playing with this girl in the park today and I stopped by to say hi,” her face turned to a grimace, “and then this freakin’,  _ gigantic  _ Newfoundland tackled me!”

Tiberius’s eyes widened at that, “Good Lord.”

“Yeah, and then this woman started shouted at me, or maybe it was the dog…..I’m honestly not terribly sure…..” she shivered, “Anywho, turns out I met Alex’s mom.”

“Oh dear God…” Percy couldn’t help but laugh in amazement, “How was she?”

Keyleth glared at him, “She was…….like she’s a good mom because I think she thought I was trying to steal her kid. She didn’t say that, but I knew….I knew….But she’s….eccentric...it was weird...I don’t think she likes me….”

“Well, maybe you can woo her at the Parent Teacher Conference next week?” Percy tried to reassure her.

She only sighed before leaning into her seat, “Can we just get shitfaced tonight?”

The two men only looked at her, sighing, “To the Laughing Lamia then!” 

~~~

“Kynan, why don’t you go on home, get some actual studying in?” From the counter, Vax nodded to the boy, who was currently balancing what seemed to be a textbook with the broom in his other hand.

"Oh no no no Mr. Syngorn I couldn’t do that, leave my shift early” he sheepishly smiled, closing the book, “it’s actually easier to study here than at home..." Kynan mumbled the last part.

“Yes, because we’re flooded with customers right now,” Vax waved to the empty store, “You have, what, thirty minutes of your shift left? Go on, kick that test in it’s ass on Monday.” he gave the boy a soft smile.

“Um…”

“Kynan,” the soft look turned stern, “Go,” he gave a small smile as he nodded to the door, “You have a chance to make something of yourself, make the most of it. I’ll close up, don’t worry about it. Why are you so persistent on staying here?"

"...Because my dad is home." He mumbled weakly, his grip on the broom starting to shake ever so slightly. 

Vax could only stare at the boy, "...Oh."

“I think I saw a bottle of Jack Daniels in the fridge when I was getting ready for school this morning.” his voice kept getting smaller, breaking Vax’s heart.

It was then the front doorbell rang. Vax turned to see a fairly short man, his fiery red hair and beard braided in various parts. He sighed, “Hello Thorbir.”

“Evening Vax’ildan.” he nodded to Vax before nodding to Kynan.

“Kynan, there’s a box of records in the back, you mind alphabetizing them for me?” He shot a look to the boy, who only nodded and walked away, “I already know why you’re here, but….” he waved his hand to Thorbir once the boy was out of earshot.

“If you know why I’m here, then maybe-”

“No.” came the curt response.

“But Vax-”

“But nothing Thorbir, I’m flattered, I really really am, but no I’m not doing it.” Vax’s hands started to move in a more wild motion.

“Vax,” He took a deep breath, “You are, by far, the most successful person that’s been in the program, we talk about you to the others all the time.”

“Isn’t that enough? I don’t mind you mentioning me.”

Thorbir let out a sigh, “We don’t think so,” he leaned against the counter, “We think you coming down, talking with these people, them hearing what you’ve done first hand and realizing that we’re not bullshitting them, I think that would be the best thing for them.”   

“And your story about your friend doesn’t reach them? It reached me.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Now that  _ is _ bullshit and you know it.”

“Fair point,” Vax propped his elbows against the counter, hand playing with the small green gem hanging around his neck, “Look, again I’m flattered, but….” he took a moment to compose his words before casting his glance where Kynan had been only a bit before. He let out a long, irritated sigh, gripping the gem tightly, “Thorbir….if….if I come and talk, that kid that was just in here…”

“Yeah?”

“Give him a room for the weekend, and I’ll fucking come and talk you asshole,” He glanced at the shorter man, “Deal?”

Thorbir’s eyes widened in shock, glancing to the back room before nodding to Vax, “Deal, what’s wrong with him?”

He shrugged, “He needs some quiet time to study, and I don’t….I don’t think his home’s the right place for that.” 

The other man only nodded, “Alright, we have an extra room, shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Awesome,” another sigh, “can we talk about the details later?” 

“Um, Mr. Syngorn?” Kynan popped his head out the door, “I finished that box like you asked.”

“Good boy, Kynan, Thorbir, Thorbir, Kynan,” he waved between the two, “Kynan, grabbed your stuff, Thorbir here works at a very quiet place, he’s willing to give you a room.”

“Huh?”

Vax looked at Kynan and his shaking shoulders and steeled his face, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder. "When I was your age, I was in the same spot as you. A lot of things happened to me and I don't think I would be here if it wasn't for Thorbir. I trust the man with my life, and I trust he'll take good care of you. If you need anything, you have my number. Okay?"

Kynan looked at Vax, and then to Thorbir. Even though they were of relative height, Kynan cowered and seemed to make himself appear smaller. Like a frightened mouse. 

He inhaled in an attempt to calm down. He looked at Vax again. "Okay."

Vax smiled. "Now, go. Good luck on your exam."

The boy could only stare at him before grabbing his bag, his shocked look never leaving him as he looked back to Vax one last time. Thorbir gave what appeared to be a genuine smile before escorting Kynan out of the shop.

Vax sighed, laying his head on the counter and letting out an irritated groan. He lifted his head back up, casting a quick glance over the counter, something catching his eye.

He picked up the book, having forgotten about it earlier. He looked outside the door, noting the empty streets, everyone settling in at home or some bar for the night. Vax took the book, flipping through the pages carefully as he walked to a door near the back room, his name engraved on the metal plaque. Keeping the door cracked open, he plopped onto the leathery chair, putting his feet on the desk. 

~~~             

Percy was never a fan of nightclubs to be quite honest.

He knew Keyleth was rather fond of them, all the dancing and the lights and the conspicuous amounts of alcohol. He was happy she was happy.

But Percy? Not so much.

He rather preferred to sit at the bar, drinking water as the other two mingled around. He kept an eye on them every now and and again, to make sure they stayed out of trouble.

“Designated Driver huh?” The bartender asked him, cleaning a glass.

Percy only nodded, spinning his glass around and staying silent, trying to keep his mind clear with all the music blaring throughout the building. It was close to giving him a headache as he took his free hand and started rubbing his temple. 

“God could at least play something better?” he mumbled as he turned in his seat to check on Keyleth and Tiberius, eyes widening.

All around the other bar patrons, wisps of smoke covered them, darkening their image to the point where Percy could barely see them. His breath quickened as his eyes darted all over the room, the lights and smoke affecting his vision, until he finally rested them over a figure covered in black.

He felt a vibration in his pocket just as he thought he would hyperventilate. Peeling his eyes away from the figure, he quickly pulled out his phone, recognizing the number.

“Hello?” he tried to shout over the music.

_ “Hello? Percy can you hear me?”  _ a heavenly voice asked on the other end.

“Allura?”

_ “Yes, I’m so sorry I couldn’t get back with you til now, I had a long list of patients today.”  _ she apologized.

“No no that’s fine, I’m just happy you got back with me,” He rubbed the back of his neck, “Were you able to get a time and date settled on to meet with my students?” 

_ “I’m sorry what? I can’t hear you,”  _ Percy could barely even hear her.

“Sorry, I’m with a friend,” he explained as he glanced over to Keyleth and Tiberius. Keyleth seemed to be beyond the point of drunk as she leaned against a fairly sober-looking Tiberius, “But they’ll be fine for a moment, can you hold for just a moment?” he shouted out the request over the music.

_ “Sure.”  _ she shouted back. 

Percy sprung out of his seat, pushing past the crowd and smoke towards the entrance. He gasped as fresh night air filled his lungs, “Okay, I’m back.” he panted out, letting the crisp air encase him.

_ “Okay good, you’ll need to write this date down, I don’t want you to forget it.”  _ she lightly asked him as Percy patted his pockets. Dammit, he didn’t have a pen and he didn’t think to bring any of the bar’s napkins with him he thought as he sighed,  _ “I’m going to have to hold again aren’t I?”  _ she chuckled, her tone amused rather than irritated.

“I’m terribly sorry,” he apologized before looking around. He let out an aggravated noise as he only saw darkness. He nearly shouted in delight as he saw one light on in what appeared to be a store. Double checking the street, Percy hurried across, relieved that the door was unlocked, “Hello? Is anyone here?” the panic started to rise again when there was no one at the counter. There was a shuffling noise near the back, an open door creaking to show a man rubbing his eyes with one hand. His dark hair was in a loose ponytail, bits and pieces seeming to slip out of the tie.    

“What’s that?” the man asked, taking his hand and wiping a stray bit of drool from his mouth.

“Yes, hello there!” Percy rushed to the counter, nearly slamming his hands on it, “Do you by any chance have some paper and a pen I could borrow?” 

The man looked at him as though he had a third eye, “Who the fuck are you and why shouldn’t I call the police?”

It was then that Percy took in the moment, “Uhhhhh, good question….”

The man looked over Percy, a dark eyebrow raised. He played with a small gem on a chain around his neck, biting his lip in what Percy hoped was contemplation. After a moment, the man let out a sigh, "Fine," He ducked behind the counter for only a moment, returning with a very old-looking notebook and a pen, "Use the last page, that's one of the only blank ones."

“Ahhh, thank you so much!” Percy snatched the objects before pressing on his phone once more, “I’m back, sorry about that!” he fumbled with the notebook in his free hand, placing it on the counter.

_ “It’s fine Percy, I wanted to double check something anyway,”  _ Allura’s voice giggled on the other side.

She carefully told him the date, “Um, thank you very kindly.” he chuckled sheepishly. 

_ “You’re very welcome, I’ll see you soon Percy.”  _ and with that she hung up. 

Percy sighed as he put the phone back into his pocket before remembering where he was, “Um, so sorry about that…..I didn’t have the time to really explain myse-”

Percy realized now that the man’s elbows were on the counter, smirking head in hands, “Oh no you’re fine Mr. Drug Dealer.” he teased, smirk only growing.

“Drug Dealer?” Percy looked offended, “I’m not a drug dealer!”

“You sure about that?” The man chuckled, “A man covered in tattoos runs in here with a crazy look in his eyes, talking about a date.” 

“I….I mean…..I….” Percy honestly wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

The man’s chuckle turned into a laugh, taking one of his hands to gently grab at the green gem, “I’m kidding,” he gave the man another once-over, “Drug dealers wish they had a nice vest like that.” he pointed to Percy’s chest.

“Well then,” he chuckled, pulling at the garment, “it’s actually called a waistcoat.”

The man rolled his eyes, “And a drug dealer wouldn’t give a shit about the name.” 

The two stood in silence for a moment, before Percy started looking around, noting the vinyl, “Is….is this a record store?” he continued to look around, awe in his face.

The man let out another laugh, “Welcome to Gilmore’s Glorious Goods!” he exclaimed with very forced flair, “We have everything you could ever want…..as long as it involves records!” There seemed to be a twinkle in Percy’s eye as he walked to one of the piles of boxes on the side, a delighted noise coming out of him, “As much fun as you seem to be having there, I’m warning you that you have about…..ten minutes before we close.” 

“Oh, well then,” Percy gave the boxes a quick glance, a squeal coming out of him at one in particular, “Oh God oh God oh God….” he pulled it out, rubbing his thumbs against the cover, “I’ve been looking everywhere for this…..” 

He turned to see the man’s eyebrow was raised, an amused look on his face, “I take it you found something?” the giggle bubbled out of him.

Percy could only rub the back of his neck sheepishly as he walked back up to the counter, “Well, it’s…..yeah I did,” he placed the record down before taking out his wallet, “Besides, I feel like I at least owe you some business after all that.”

The man chuckled as he rang it up, “You actually helped me out, just between us I...I may have fallen asleep in my office and almost missed my shift ending.”

“You fell asleep?” Percy raised an eyebrow, “Doesn’t seem very-okay okay nevermind!” he yelped as the man pulled the record away from him, a mischievous grin on his face.

“Thatta boy,” he teased as he put the record into a plastic bag. 

The rest of the transaction went smoothly, with Percy handing him the money and the man returning the change. As Percy grabbed the bag, his phone began to vibrate, “Hello?”

_ “Percy?”  _ Tiberius’s voice rang through the other end,  _ “I think it's time we left, Keyleth’s well….she’s already started puking.” _

“Christ,” Percy mumbled as he started digging through his pockets, “I’ll meet you at the car in a minute okay?”

With a quick okay the two hung up. Percy looked back at the man sheepishly, “My friend….I have to…”

“We’re closing anyway,” The man smirked, “But something tells me I’ll see you again, considering you nearly attacked the store.”

Percy could only chuckle weakly, “I suppose so.” he smiled back.

“I’ll lead you out.” A few moments later and the man had donned a jacket and was walking with Percy to the front door, keys jingling in his hand.

“Thank you again, have a nice night,” Percy started to walk off as the man was locking the door. When he was a few feet away, a thought crossed his mind. He patted his pockets frantically before turning back, “Wait, I-”

“Forget this?” The smirk never left the man’s lips as he held a piece of folded paper between his fingers. He placed it into Percy’s free hand, “Best make sure it's the right one.”

“Of course,” Percy unfolded the paper, “I can’t thank you enough….Vax’ildan….” his eyes widened. There was an addition to the date, a name and a number.

“Pleased to meet you,” Vax kept his amused look as he crossed his arms, “I figured, if you forget anymore papers, give me a call,” He winked before turning to walk away, “Good night Percy.” he waved back.

Percy could only stare at the man, Vax, before staring back at the paper, a hint of red over his cheeks.    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want it to go on record, I had planned for The Secret Garden to be used before 48, but mannnnn did it make me feel good when I heard it.


	3. The Written Word

Vax let out a loud yawn as he removed the keys from the ignition. His bones moaned and cracked as he stretched out, leaning back into his seat with a sigh. He looked at the door he recognized as his own, seeing only one small dim light coming from the living room. Vex’ahlia probably fell asleep without setting up his futon, great….and then there was….

Vax let out another sigh as he ran a hand through the loose strands of his hair. Thorbir’s talk was going to be….less than fun if he were to be quite honest with himself, actually it was going to fucking suck, the idea of Kynan having some damn peace this weekend being the only thing to keep his irritation in check. Well, that and…

A hint of red dusted Vax’s cheeks as he thought of that man….Percy wasn’t it? It lasted only a moment before he shook his head of it, grabbed the book sitting in the passenger seat, and got out of the car, not even bothering to check as he heard the satisfying click of the locking mechanism. 

He quickly jogged up the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible unlocking the door-

“Daddy!” With an  _ omph _ Vax felt a pressure on his waist, violet eyes looking up at him excitedly (if a little sleepily). Despite his shock, instinct kicked in as he lifted her up to his chest.

“Vivi, what are you-”

“Hi Uncle Vax.” He turned to see Alex standing behind his mother, rubbing a tired eye as he mumbled out the greeting.

“What the fuck do you have my niece reading?”

“Vex’ahlia…” he turned to Vex, glaring at her for the language.

“She woke me up about an hour ago, checking to see if I had ‘button eyes’,” she air-quoted the last bit, “And since it was almost time for you to get back I figured, it's Friday why not? But now,” she turned to Alex, gently scratching his head, “It's bedtime, for the both of you.” she turned to Vivi, a warm smile on her face.

“But you just got hereee!” Vivi whined, burying her face into his chest to muffle a cough, “I wanna say goodnight…”

“We will,” he kissed the top of her head before lightly glaring at his sister once more, “Since you’re already up, I don’t see any problems.” he smiled, quickly taking off his shoes. Lightly bouncing her, the pair walked into Vivian’s bedroom, “Closet first?” She nodded before letting out a small cough/yawn. He tried to chuckle, but couldn’t hide the slight worry on his face, “Are you okay?” he put a hand to her forehead, she was warm.

“Uh huh,” another yawn, “closet.” she mumbled sleepily, the grip on his shirt tightening.

“Alright alright, onward your highness.” his worried look turned into a smirk, a twinkle in Vax’s eye.

“I’m not a princess…” the response was muffled, Vivian burying her face into her father’s shirt.

“Really? You couldn’t have told me eight years ago?” the laugh was genuine this time as they reached the closet. He could feel her tremble slightly as he turned and pulled the knob, knowing full well he was going to have to iron out his shirt as her grip became shockingly tight for her small hands, “Annnd, there’s nothing.” It was a comical, yet gentle tone that reassured her.

“You promise?”

“I swear.”

She cautiously turned her head just a bit, “You’re not going to try and scare me again right?”

Vax could almost feel his lungs collapsing with his deep sigh, “Sweetheart, that was a mistake Daddy regrets all the time, I swear there’s nothing here.” his tone only became more gentle.

She turned her head a bit more, barely looking at the closet before nuzzling into his chest once more, “Under the bed.” 

There was a small smile on his lips as he pecked the top of her head and walked over, “You know I don’t mind doing this Vivi, but you don’t think the monsters would be more scared of Auntie Vex?” 

He could feel her humming in thought on his chest, “The monsters don’t  _ like _ Auntie Vex, but they’re only scared of you.”

“Really? They’re not even scared of Trinket?”

“They know he’s just a fluffball,” There was a shared giggle between the two, “And...they know you’d do a lot of bad things to them if they hurt me.”

Vax honestly wasn’t sure how to respond to that as he carefully crouched down, looking over the darkness, “Well….they’re right,” He whispered mostly to himself, “And nothing under here. Wanna take a look?”

She shook her head no, “I trust you.”

“You don’t think I’m going to scare you again?”

“That was the closet…this is...different.” her voice was weaker, the grip on his shirt loosening as he rose back up.

He chuckled slightly as he pulled her away, “Good to know,” Carefully balancing her in one hand, Vax took his other to pull the blanket back, gently laying her down. The mattress barely squeaked as he tucked the blanket around her, “Goodnight sweetheart, I’ll see you in the morning.” he whispered to her, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

“Nighty night Daddy.” Vivian mumbled, snuggling deeper into her pillow.

Vax watched her for a few moments as her breathing evened before quietly walking out the door, a relieved sigh escaping him.

“You might want to keep an eye on her.” He opened his eyes to see Vex’ahlia staring at him, concern decorating her face. He turned to see Alex laying in the corner, seeming to have made his own bed on Trinket’s fur.

“She was a little warm tonight.” Vax started walking to the kitchen, “Can I get you anything?”

“Just some water, and yeah, she got a little less energetic after you left,” she followed him, “You think we need to call Kash?”

The sound of running water mixed in with Vax’s deep sigh, “I hate to call him on a weekend…”

“You know he doesn’t mind brother,” Vex casted a quick glance to him, noticing how he seemed to be unable to keep the glasses in his hand still before handing one to her, “Vivi’s fine…..She probably just wore herself out.”

“I shouldn’t have taken her, of course she was going to get sick at the fucking park.” he kept his voice low, staring at the floor with a frazzled look, every line on his face prominent.

“Oh no,” Vex was immediately next to him, “Don’t you give me that ‘I’m a shitty dad’ look, you saw how happy she was.” she grabbed his free hand, the other one still shaking.

“But-”

“But nothing, she’s fine, it’s just a little cold-”

“Vex, a little cold to her is like-”

“I know I know, but I think Kash has helped, a lot,” she squeezed his hand and pecked his cheek, “So how was work?”

Vax welcomed the change in topics, setting his glass down, “It was work, fairly easy day…..Thorbir came by.”

“Again? Fucking Hell when is he-”

“I told him I would talk.”

“What?” There was a puzzled look on her face, “But why-”

“Kynan.” he mumbled moreso to himself. 

“Did he use him to guilt-trip you?” puzzlement turned to anger, “I’ll kill him.”

“No no he didn’t,” he reassured her, “I….I would rather not go into it, not right now okay?”

There was a sigh and Vax swore he could actually see steam from his sister’s nostrils, “Fine.”

“There was someone else,” Oh God why was he even telling her this? He couldn’t even hide the bit of red covering his cheeks, “A new guy came into the shop today, right as I was closing,” A dark eyebrow was raised, her attention was grabbed, “He basically stormed in like a madman wanting paper and a pen.”

“Oh no-”

“Yep,” he chuckled into his glass, “He had tattoos….two full sleeves of them…”

“Oh God-”

“And he had this look in his eye when he found a record, a rare one apparently…”

“Brother-”

“I gave him my number.” 

Vex’ahlia’s mouth hung in shock for a moment, a wicked grin quickly taking its place, “Vax’ildan Syngorn, flirting like a little school boy?”

“Vex…” he rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly turning away from her.

She lightly shoved his arm, “I thought you said you swore off dating, plus-”

“No no no, not dating, I’m not dating him,” Vax quickly corrected her, “He’s...he’s nice….and talking to him was...nice…” She crossed her arms, smirk never leaving her face as she raised a dark eyebrow, causing him to let out a deep sigh, “The fact that he’s handsome doesn’t hurt either,” He could see his sister squirm a little, trying not to wake the children with a squeal, “It's not that big of a deal.”

“No deal, brother you haven’t even so much as given someone a second glance in eight years!”

“You’re right, I haven’t,” he nodded to Vivi’s door, “I’ve had higher priorities than getting laid.” he whispered through gritted teeth.

Vex only rolled her eyes, “I’m not saying fuck every Tom, Dick, and Harry you meet but, not even a date Vax…”

“I couldn’t put her through that,” he only stared at the door, “Introducing people into her life, only to have them be ripped away, that’s not what she deserves….” 

There was a faint chuckle from his sister, causing him to turn to see his sister holding a fist to her mouth, repressing a giggle, “I don’t care what you might think….you’re a good father Vax.”

A short, bitter laugh was his response, “I’m not, I’m just trying my ass off….” Another roll of her eyes before he felt her lips at his cheek again, “You and Alex heading on out?”

“Yeah, Zahra called earlier, our living room is War Room no more! Plus, the munchkins tried to keep me up til you got here, was so tired I fell asleep watching Judge Judy.” she stretched out, a yawn erupting from her.

“Oh God Vex’ahlia, I figured marrying an attorney-”

“Prosecutor.”

The look he gave her as she made her way to Alex, who was now sleeping on Trinket, was one of amazement and only slight irritation, “Whatever, I figured that would get you away from those shitty judge shows.”

“They’re not shitty,” she scolded him, scooping up the child in her arms and petting Trinket’s head,  “and despite the fact that she usually screams at people, her voice can be quite soothing.”

~~~

“Why did you let me drink so much last night?” Percy heard a groan from the floor, a hand swatting at the air. He only half-heard her though, staring at the piece of paper in his hand, “Percyyyyy.”

“Huh?” he finally turned to see Keyleth laying on the set of sleeping bags once more. Tiberius had gone home after they first arrived, saying something about a student needing help.

“What’ve you got there?” her hand started moving towards the paper, only for Percy to pull it away.

“The date Allura gave me,” he was mostly telling the truth.

“Uh huh, you had that memorized ten minutes after writing it,” she sat up, glaring at him. He had to lean back against the couch, a smug expression on him as she lazily waved for the paper, too hungover to actually grab it, “Ya know what, fuck you…”she mumbled weakly, laying back on the floor. 

“I love you too.” the smugness in his face only started to leave when he looked at the note again, being replaced by a more dreamy expression.

“C’mon, Tiberius told me you left the bar last night.”

“I already told you, I needed to write something down from Allura.”

She put her hands over her face, a small groan escaping her, “It doesn’t take you fifteen minutes to write something down.”

“I had to find pen and paper.”

She looked at him through a gap in her fingers, “Where did you go?”

“Did you know there’s a record store across the street from the bar?”

“Huh?” 

“With…..interesting staff.” 

The confusion started to vanish, a small smile instead, “Percival de Rolo-”

“Shut up, shut up, shut the fuck-”

“Dawwwww, Percy has a widdle crush, doesn’t he?” She rose from the floor, moving to sit next to him on the couch, “He has a widdle crushy wushy doesn’t he?”

“Kiki, if you could not talk to me like one of your students I’d be eternally grateful.” He said with a glare, still gripping the piece of paper.

“It's a little hard to tell the difference sometimes.”

“Fuck you.”

“I love you too~.” She glanced over at the paper again, noting the hint of red in Percy’s cheeks, “That’s her number isn’t it?”

“That’s  _ his  _ number.” He corrected her, eyes widening with her grin as he realized his mistake.

“He gave you his number?” she squealed, trying to cover her mouth with her hands.

“Well……” he sighed, she wasn’t going to let this go, “Yes, he did.” he finally relented.

“Lemme see lemme see!” she chanted, reaching out for the paper with a renewed vigor.

“No!” he pulled back once more, falling onto his back on the couch, “I’ve not done anything with it!”

She looked at him with confusion, “You’ve not even texted him? Said hi?”

“I mean…..what if it's a fake number?” He knew the excuse was pathetic, he knew she knew the excuse was pathetic, so why he even said it he wasn’t entirely sure.

He got confirmation with the roll of her eyes, “Percy, I love you, but you’re the most paranoid person I’ve ever met, and this is including my dad.”

“Oh God.” His face grimaced at the comparison.

“Yeah,” she leaned back into the couch cushions, “I’m just saying, you don’t just give your number out to people,” she tucked her legs under herself, “And besides, maybe it’ll be something like, the suave, charismatic stranger turns out to be a millionaire and yes I’ve seen your bookshelf you need some self-control.” she explained as he rolled his eyes at her.

He righted himself on the couch, “You can pry my three dollar Walmart trash novels from my cold, dead hands,” He noticed right then, the glint in her eye changed from a teasing one to more…..sorrowful, “Sorry,” he mumbled, “That was in poor taste.”

“It’s fine,” she shook her head, smile slowly returning to her, “Make it up to me by texting the new hunk.”

“Keyleth!” 

A knock at the door interrupted them. Percy could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up for a moment as he went completely silent, only calming down when he saw a look of recognition on Keyleth’s face.

“Who is it?” she called out, starting to rise from the couch.

“Babe.” a voice familiar to Percy responded, making him breathe out a sigh of relief, “I heard you were drunk off your ass and needed a ride.” 

Percy snorted at the horrified look Keyleth gave the door as she walked to it, “I didn’t say that!” she opened the door to be greeted with long brown hair in a braid, one gold and one blue eye looking at her with amusement, and a small smirk on the man’s lips.

“Look, I read your text almost verbatim.” he was interrupted by Keyleth swatting at his arm. He looked into the house, seeing Percy, “Hey.”

“Hey Kashaw,” Percy waved to him, still unmoving from the couch, “See you on Monday?” he asked as she walked back over, grabbing a bag resting on the floor.

“Yeah,” she gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before rushing back to Kashaw, “See ya.” and with that the door closed. Percy waited a beat, making sure he heard the engine of the car starting, before sighing and pulling his phone out of his pocket.  

~~~

Vax felt a groan escape him as he heard a creak in his bed, tiny hands feeling around his face. Little fingers stopped at his eyes, prying them open. The brief moment they were open he could see Vivian's tired eyes staring at him.

“Vivi?” he groaned, nuzzling into his pillow on instinct.

“You don’t have buttons,” he heard her whisper, “Good, you’re real.”

“That’s it,” he mumbled into the pillow, “I’m monitoring what you read from now on.” he couldn’t help but smile at the little squeaking noise she made. He could feel her body shifting, getting under his arm, “Trouble sleeping?” He could feel her nod before she coughed into his chest. He lifted himself up on the futon, letting her rest her head on his chest. He rubbed her back gently, “Is there anything I can do sweetheart?”

She turned away from his chest, noticing the book on the armrest of the couch. With another cough, she crawled over, grabbing the book and holding it out to Vax, “Read to me?”

He looked at it, resisting the urge to cringe when he recognized the title, “Um, Vivi, maybe I can read you-”

She shook her head, “No, I wanna read this one,” she insisted, “Mr. de Rolo gave it to me.”

“I know,” he said through gritted teeth. He looked her over, that determined expression only beaten by his sister’s, and realized that the time he would waste arguing with her, she could be sleeping. He sighed, grabbing the book from her hands and letting her rest against his chest again. He turned to the beginning, “When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselth-th-waite? Jesus Christ that’s a name to say,” Vivian’s giggling prompted him to continue, “Misselthwaite, got it, Manor to live with her uncle-”

This continued on for several minutes, Vax drawing it out as long as he could. He cringed when he first read the description of the heroine, and he cringed even harder reading it to Vivi, praying that some of the wording would go over her head. He let out a sigh of relief when he heard her lightly snore into his chest, closing the book and putting it back on the armrest. 

He seethed as he leaned back against the futon. He knew, he  _ knew  _ that this Mr. de Rolo didn’t know about Vivi. How could he, it had only been two weeks. But dammit if it didn’t still feel like a slap in the face to Vax.

He exhaled deeply, trying to stay quiet for the sleeping child on his chest. He pushed Vivi closer to himself, her presence being the only thing to calm him down. A muffled sound broke his train of thought, looking to see his phone vibrating under his pillow.

Thinking it was Vex or work, he carefully grabbed it, positioning Vivi and himself so they were laying back down. It was a text from a number he did not recognized.

**UNKNOWN:**

_ Decided to take you up on your offer. _

A sense of panic rose in Vax before his phone went off again.

**UNKNOWN:**

_ Oh, this is Percy btw. _

Vax let out what felt like his tenth sigh of relief for the day before a….joyful feeling replaced it...Percy actually texted him. The thought made Vax giddy as he quickly made the number a contact.

**VAX:**

_ good you about gave me a heart attack just now thinking i had a fucking stalker or something ;) _

**VAX:**

_ see i’m cool i can do textspeak too :p _

~~~

Oh my God, he’s a massive dork.

This thought ran through Percy’s head as he read over the text once more, a blush creeping over his cheeks as he typed out a response.

**PERCY:**

_ That you can it seems. 8) _

**PERCY:**

_ And I can do emojis as well. _

He chuckled at the response Vax gave him.

**VAX:**

_ ……..those are your fucking glasses arent they _

**VAX:**

_ nerd _

Percy nearly fell onto the couch, giggling like a child.

**PERCY:**

_ Hardly. _

**VAX:**

_ you cant see it but im rolling my eyes at you _

**PERCY:**

_ And I’m rolling my eyes at your atrocious grammar _

**VAX:**

_ and im rolling my eyes at fuck you no one has time for that _

Percy could feel the fond smile forming on his lips.

**PERCY:**

_ Well, good to know you’re a man of priorities. _

~~~

Vax physically rolled his eyes, the smirk now on his face not faltering as he typed out a response.

**VAX:**

_ thats one way to put it I guess _

**VAX:**

_ hows your friend btw the one that puked _

~~~ 

**PERCY:**

_ She stopped puking thankfully, and her bf came to take her home, she’ll be fine. _

He paused for a moment, biting his lip in deliberation, before typing something else;

**PERCY:**

_ How are you? _

There was a brief pause before the response;

**VAX:**

_ im good kids feeling a little sick though :( _

Kid? He had a kid?

**PERCY:**

_ You have a kid? _

**VAX:**

_ yeah a little girl _

Percy immediately put a hand to his mouth, suppressing any scream that tried to come out. A kid, he had a kid of course he had a kid Oh God he’s good with children...

**PERCY:**

_ I hope she feels better :( _

He mentally scolded himself for such a pathetic answer, stomach twisting with anxiety. Percy ran a hand through his hair and looked up from his phone to the ceiling. 

In the corner of his vision, against the dull grey walls, he saw it. A familiar color, disgusting and dark red, oozing onto the walls-

His heart dropped and he willed himself to whip his head around to face the walls directly, panic setting in deep,

The walls were completely barren, save for the lone framed portrait he never found the heart to take down. 

A  _ ding _ forced him away from his paranoid thinking and look down at his phone, seeing Vax had responded.

**VAX:**

_ ty hey if she feels better on monday lunch? _

**VAX:**

_ there i used a punctuation mark you prick :p _

Percy wasn’t sure if the laughter coming out of him was from relief or from nerves, and he honestly thought it was a little bit of both as he reread the message. Was Vax...asking him on a date?

“Um….um…” he bit his lip, as if he was speaking out his response. One lunch shouldn’t hurt right?

**PERCY:**

_ Sure, sounds lovely 8D. I get lunch around 11:30. _

**VAX:**

_ good i can take off whenever so 11:30 at the keep _

**PERCY:**

_ Oh, I’ve not been there before, sure. _

**VAX:**

_ :) see ya then _

**VAX:**

_ gtg kid just woke up bye _

Percy leaned back against the futon, placing his phone back in his pocket, a small smile on his lips.

~~~

Vax put the phone aside as Vivi yawned. He kissed the top of her head, “You sleep well sweetheart?”

She nodded, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, “Yeah.”

“Good,” he ran a hand through her hair, combing out any stray knots, “Breakfast?”

“Pancakes!” he couldn’t help but chuckle at her sudden excitement. As he got up, starting in on making breakfast, his mind wandered.

It wasn’t a date….it was just, lunch with a new friend. 

~~~

Percy carefully looked over himself in the small mirror he kept in his desk (Keyleth insisted he would need it….and she was right). The children had already gone to the lunchroom (this time with little Vivian joining behind Miss Shorthalt, a thought that made Percy ridiculously happy at the time). 

After making sure everything seemed in place, Percy made his way to the car. Giving himself a once-over in the mirror before the engine roared to life. 

Though he had never been to The Keep before, he and Keyleth had passed by it many times, it looked to be a cute quaint little cafe and she was always making plans to go but they tended to falter rather quickly. Despite it being close to the lunch rush, Percy was able to find a parking spot relatively easily, pulling in near the front. It took him only a few moments before he spotted Vax in the outside dining area, familiar purple work shirt being the perfect way to find him.

Vax gave him a small wave, removing the glasses he was wearing before pointing towards inside the cafe. Percy gave a nod before walking in, coming out a few moments later with his order. 

“So, this is what you look like when you’re not attacking stores.” Vax greeted him with a wicked smirk.

“You’re not going to let that go, are you?” 

“Not even a little~.” 

Percy sighed, his smile still on his face, as he sat across from Vax. He leaned back in his chair, letting the unusually-cool-for-August breeze take him for a moment, “I didn’t know you could eat outside here,” He mumbled as he rose back up, “It’s….oddly nice.”

“The bugs get annoying as fuck around July, but June and August are amazing.” Vax chuckled out as he grabbed a fry from the pile in front of him. Percy could feel him looking over him, “You always wear makeup?”

He looked down at his arms, “Oh, yes I do for my job.”

“Ah, so what do you do?” 

“I’m a teacher.” Percy quickly popped a fry into his mouth.

“So your boss doesn’t like them?”

“Actually he’s...pretty okay with them,” he explained, “It’s more of a personal thing, and I don’t want parents down my throat if that makes sense?”

Vax shrugged, “I guess? Never really had to deal with that, my daughter rather likes my ink.” he smirked at that.

“You have a tattoo?” He raised an eyebrow, carefully giving him a once-over.

“It’s on my back handsome,” he looked to Vax’s face, seeing a rather amused expression on his face, “But I do appreciate you checking me out.” He gave a wink that only made Percy feel more embarrassed.

He felt so relieved when his phone dinged, “Excuse me,” he looked over it really quickly, a text from Keyleth telling him lunch was almost over, he grimaced for a moment, “I’m afraid time flies when you’re in good company, my lunch is almost over.” He looked to see Vax checking his phone as well. 

“Same, my coworker’s sent me like, ten texts,” he chuckled, raising up from his chair. Percy was about to do the same when Vax put a hand over his, “So,” Vax mumbled, “Are you….doing anything this Friday?”

Percy pondered the question, “Well, I have to stay late for work, but not terribly long.”

“Same actually,” Vax gave him a small smile, “But I was wondering, my daughter and I...we have this diner we go to every week, like a little….tradition thing,” he waved his free hand around as he explained, “Would you….like to join us?”

Percy stared at him for a moment, blinking at the question, “Um…..sure, certainly,” he piped, his voice a little too high, “That sounds lovely.”

“Awesome,” Another wink before Vax let go of his hand, starting to walk off with a wave.

~~~ 

“He asked you for a second date!?” Keyleth slammed her hands against Percy’s desk.

“It wasn’t a date for starters,” Percy carefully organized a set of papers that had been shuffled in the process, “And second, it's with his daughter, I’d hardly count that as anything.” 

Keyleth glared at him, “Percy.”

“Yes?”

“He’s a single father right?”

“Yes….” he raised an eyebrow.

“And like, we’re going in a perfect world here where he’s 100% not a shitty dad, so his daughter is like….his world right?”

“I...would hope so?”

“Percy,” Her expression softened, “He wants you to meet his daughter,” she put a hand over his, “That’s a pretty big deal.”

He looked at her, ready to say something before other voices interrupted them, “The PTA’s starting.”

She held out a finger to him, “We’ll talk more after your  _ date _ ,” she pecked his cheek, “good luck.”

“Same to you.” he said as she left the room, only to be replaced by someone else, “Mr. Shorthalt, to what do I owe the honor?”

“It’s after hours Percy, call me Scanlan,” a rather short brown haired man approached the desk, a stunning smile on his face, “And I was just wanting to-”

“No.” 

“But-”

“I’m not doing your conference earlier than everyone else’s!” Percy was firm in his tone.

“There’s no need for me and Kaylee to stay this late!”

“Actually,” Percy held out a finger, “There is, you’ll find out at our one-on-one meeting.”

Scanlan glared at him for a moment, before sighing, “Fine.” and with that he was out of the room. 

~~~

“C'mon Daddy!” Vivian grunted as she pulled on Vax’s sleeve, “We’re gonna be late!”

“Sweetheart, we still got five minutes,” he chuckled as he grabbed ahold of her hand.

“But you  _ have  _ to meet Mr. de Rolo!”

“I know, I know.” he could feel his eye twitch, still seething over the book. 

Vivian finally managed to drag him down the hall to her classroom. The room was packed with what seemed to be mostly women, all either talking to their kids or amongst themselves. She pulled him to a desk in the front row, “Here’s my seat!”

He chuckled a little, carefully sitting down in the desk. She hugged him, still bouncing with excitement.

“Hello hello!” he heard a voice enter into the room, “Welcome everyone!”

Vax diverted his attention from Vivian to the front of the room, an all-too familiar patch of white hair greeting him. 

He stared at Percy, whose gaze finally landed on him, eyes widening in realization.    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!


	4. Prologue 1: Breaking Point

_ Breaking _

Stairs had never looked more intimidating to Vax before tonight.

He stood at the bottom, looking past the darkness. The oversized tshirt Vex let him borrow hung loosely from his slender frame, shaking with him in the night’s chill.

He ran a hand through his hair as he carefully took the stairs one by one, cringing at the loud (at least, loud to him) creaking noise they made. The last thing he needed was to wake Vex, Zahra, or even...the thought made him rush up the last remaining stairs.

The door he wanted was only a few inches away. Vax rubbed at his arm, biting his lip. With a deep breath and another small creak, he opened the door.

Laying in the corner of the room, a simple, functional-looking crib rest, right next to it sat a table, a device Vax recognized as the baby monitor Zahra had bought and installed earlier that day laying in the middle, it’s light on and a faint static noise coming from the other end. He carefully moved the device, turning it off before turning to the crib.

“H….hi...Vivi…” he whispered out, sitting down on the floor. He was able to see her, laying on the pale sheet covered in stars and little rabbits. She slept peacefully it seemed, only moving to breathe or occasionally pump her fist in the air to swat at something.

Vax noticed her mobile was off, quickly raising to wind it back up, the gentle music filling through the air, “There we go, that’s better.” he whispered moreso to himself. He looked down into the crib, holding back a coo over her cute tiny face.

“You’re….” he held out his hand, almost as if to touch her, before pulling back, gripping onto the rail of the crib as he sat back down on the floor.

“You’re really cute, you know that?” a quiet breathless laugh escaped him, “How the fuc-oh, sorry, how the heck are you my kid?” He tangled his fingers through the bars of the crib, staring at the baby.

A moment passed, and then another, the gentle music from the mobile filling the room. It stopped after some time, now a sobbing noise taking its place.

“I’m….I’m so sorry Vivi.” he sobbed out, tears falling freely from his face, “I’m so sorry, I’m shit, I’m fucking shit and I know it.” he pressed his head against the bars, his grip tightening and his body shaking.

Crying from something else was the only thing to stop him, forcing him to look up and see Vivian squirming in the crib, hands waving around and lungs wailing out.

“Oh...oh...oh God oh God,” he quickly rose up, carefully lifting her from the crib, “Shhh, shhh Vivi’s it’s okay it’s okay,” he gently rocked her in his arms, hiccuping a little, “Daddy’s got you…..Daddy’ll always have you….”

He’s not sure if she understood what he said (or even if she heard him, compared to the sounds of her own sobbing) but she seemed to quiet down, letting out a little hiccup herself.

He couldn’t help but giggle, stopping only when she seemed to be asleep again. He gently kissed her forehead before laying her back down. He stared at her for a little longer, wiping the now-dry tears from his cheeks. One more deep breath, his pitiful look turning to one of determination.

“You know, that baby monitor makes a little  _ click  _ when someone, and I’m not saying who, turns it off,” He heard a hushed voice from behind him, “Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately depending on the circumstances, your sister’s a heavy sleeper.”

He turned at that, seeing Zahra leaning against the doorway, a rather unamused look on her face, “Sorry, I-”

She raised a finger to her lips, “You want to wake her up again?” she asked, quietly making her way next to him, looking over the crib for a moment before turning to him, “I suppose I should be happy, I told her you’d be gone the moment the lights were off.”

If looks could kill, Zahra would have been long dead with the glare Vax was giving her, “I wouldn’t dare-”

She shushed him again, “Keep your voice down,” she whispered firmly, still looking at the crib, “And I know, she said nearly the exact same thing,” she turned to look at him. Even in the dim moonlight, he could still see light patches mixing in with her dark skin, “Despite all that, Vex’ahlia…..she has an unshakable faith in you.”

His face softened at that, turning instead back to the crib, “She’s like that…” he mumbled.

Vax heard her sigh, “You’ll last maybe a week, and I'm being generous, on your own.”

“I wasn’t planning on being alone…”

“I’ve never seen that look on your face before, but I’ve heard about it enough from Vex, that’s your ‘I’m going to do something stupid to try and fix things’ look.”

Another glare, “I don’t need a fucki-” he paused, “A lecture from you of all people.”

Silenced filled the room, the only sounds being an occasional cooing noise from the crib.

“I can help,” Zahra finally broke the quiet, “People owe me, they owe Vanessa, and what are favors if not to be used?” another small smirk.

“I don’t want to be in your debt-”

“This is the first night in two years my wife hasn’t sobbed herself to sleep because of you,” she turned to him, pale eyes staring fiercely, “You give me more nights like that, I’ll consider us even.”

Vax could only stare at her, his knuckles turning white from his grip on the crib, tears welling in his eyes once more, “I...I...” he couldn’t finish his sentence before sobbing, putting a hand to his mouth to keep his voice down.

Her face changed, no longer was the intense look, or even the somewhat playful smirk, instead she looked sorrowful, almost like she was pitying him (he really didn’t even care right now).

He felt her hand on his shoulder, giving him a tight squeeze, “Go, get some rest,” her tone was soft, gentle, “You’re going to need it.”

Vax could barely calm himself down at that, still holding in his sobs as he wiped the tears from his eyes. All he could do was nod, looking down at the crib once more before leaving the room.      

~~~

_ Point _

When Percy woke up the first thing he heard was someone crying.

The last thing he remembered was the cold tiled floor, and now he could feel himself wrapped up tightly with a thin blanket in a bed. It couldn’t be his bed. It was too stiff and angled upwards at the head. 

He opened his eyes and was assaulted with bright lights. Flinching, he shut his eyes closed again and pressed his head against the bed, as if he figured he would be able to phase into it and not have to deal with lights that made his eyes hurt. Maybe he could fall back asleep. 

The crying persisted, and along with it Percy recognized several voices. The various beeps and whirrings of machines, hushed whispers, and distant footsteps, growing closer and then fading away.

What truly brought him out of his groggy sleepiness was a low gravelly voice- the voice of his father. It sounded relieved. Amused, even, in a way. 

“Well, look who finally decided to join us.” Percy’s father said. He opened his eyes one more and blinked once. Twice. Many times before they adjusted to the bright lights and the haziness turned into recognizable shapes and colors. 

Across from Percy was his father in a chair, eyeing him with the intensity he always had, but the one difference was the sparkle in his old blue eyes, a sort of happiness that softened his features in a way no one had seen in years. Behind his father were sterile white walls.

Percy craned his head and saw his little sister in the corner of the room on the floor, close to the door and staring off into space with a distant look on her face. She was mute, not deaf, but as always she was in her own little world, not responding to what their father had said. Percy saw tears in her eyes, but it was nothing close to the hiccuping sobs he heard right beside him. 

They were so close, almost as if they were right over his bed…

Strong arms were wrapped tightly around Percy’s form, a body against his. Auburn hair swallowed up his face, nearly suffocating him as a head rested against his chest. He recognized her quickly. Her long hair and soft skin, strong arms and painful grip. 

Keyleth, his best friend since childhood. Keyleth, who had been with him since the beginning, who had seen him at his best and at his worst and at his everything-in-between. Keyleth, his drive, his inspiration, his backbone. Keyleth.

Thought he had died. And she told him just that.

“ _ Stupid _ ,” Her voice is muffled against Percy’s hospital gown, shaky from her tears. She was always an angry crier. “You’re  _ awful _ , Percy. You’re the worst. I hate you.” And just when he thought it wasn’t possible, she tightened her grip on him, hugging him so tightly he was half-convinced she was actually  _ trying _ to suffocate him. “ _ I thought you had died! I thought you were dead, Percy! _ ” She sobbed into his chest, “ _ Don’t you ever pull that shit on me, ever again! Do you hear me, Percy? I know you’re awake, yo-you asshole. _

“ _ Please...Please don’t ever leave me again. _ ”

Her grip on him loosened. She grew quiet. Aching, he looked up to see Cassandra starring him dead in the eyes.

Cassandra’s hands moved quickly, just as quickly as they always had. Percy’s brain lagged, the words processing later than they usually would have.

_ We really thought you were going to die,  _ she signed, and Percy’s heart ached with sorrow, with guilt.  _ I _ , a pause. Her hands shook, her entire body shook.  _ I had found you _ .

Percy’s breath caught in his throat and his heart beat like a wardrum. He found it hard to breathe, hard to speak, hard to do anything but stare at his family.

His gaze shifted from Cassandra, his only sister, shaking and borderline manic in her erratic movements, to his father, old and dying like their childhood home, to Keyleth, his best friend, his whirlwind of a girl, his weeping lark. 

His family in pain, his family in mourning. They had already lost so much. They had lost...everything. Percy was the only son, Cassandra the only daughter, and they were lonely. So lonely and so filled with grief. In just the blink of an eye, in a single moment of selfishness mistaken for selflessness, everything she had could have been lost. 

It wouldn’t have been the first time that had happened.

Percy tried to speak with his heart stuck in his throat. He looked up at the ceiling away from his family, mind reeling as he tried to find the right words to say. Seconds passed but to Percy it felt like hours, like an eternity. 

He couldn’t stand to look them in the eyes, right then it was too painful. But when he spoke, he spoke nothing but the truth. Voice raspy from lack of use, he stuttered out, “I...I’m sorry. I’m...not going anywhere, I promise.”

The weight of Keyleth left him and the white ceiling was replaced with the image of her face. Her hair was stringy from her tears, her face puffy and red. Her bottom lip quivered as she stared down at him and all Percy wanted to do was hold her. Cradle her face and stroke her hair and tell her over and over again what they both knew to be the truth, what they recognized as a promise: that he would be here for her. He was going to be alright.

Percy forced a crooked smile. All the strength, albeit little, he had left him quickly. He let his eyes fall closed once more and felt lips against his forehead as he drifted off to sleep. 

“ _ I’ll go tell the nurse he’s awake. _ ” Keyleth said into the room, and the last sound Percy could remember hearing for the next three days was the sound of her feet against the hospital floor fading away.

A promise of something better to come in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're starting in with another portion for The Third Bullet, a bit of a series within a series? Also, half of this chapter was written by the lovely tumblr user Shorthalt, who's poured just as much blood, sweat, and tears into this AU with me and it's so good to see it come out! Go, give Dave your love, he deserves it!

**Author's Note:**

> So excited to finally start working on this! This has been the result of months of conversations between myself and tumblr users shorthalt and percyderolo. Hope you guys enjoy~!


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